Company News in Brief

Gemfields slumps as Zambia reintroduces export duty on emeraldsShares of ruby and emerald miner Gemfields dived almost 12% on Wednesday after it flagged the reintroduction of a 15% export duty on precious gemstones in Zambia that took it by surprise.The miner said the new statutory instrument in Zambia, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, has revoked a 2019 suspension of a 15% export duty on precious gemstones. This, the company said, directly impacts the Zambian emeralds mined by Kagem Mining – the single largest emerald mine in the world – which is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% owned by the Zambian Government's Industrial Development Corporation."This 15% export duty now applies on top of the existing 6% mineral royalty tax and meaning that Kagem faces an effective tax on revenues of 21% (in addition to corporation tax of 30%)," Gemfields said in a market announcement. In early trade on Wednesday, the group's shares were down almost 12%, having now almost halved over the past year, and valuing it at about R1.9 billion on the JSE. It was, however, volatile and did recover to a 3% fall after an initial slump, before giving back this recovery.The 15% export duty was originally introduced at the start of 2019 by the previous Zambian government and after "considerable effort" by the Zambian emerald sector, the export duty was suspended at the end of 2019 and ceased to apply from 1 January 2020.Gemfields said there was no notice or prior consultation regarding the reintroduction of the 15% export duty. Gemfields said it understands that several additional measures have also been introduced in other areas of the Zambian economy to enhance Zambian Government revenues in 2025.According to Gemfields, Brazil, Colombia and Zambia are the world's three largest emerald exporters.In late December, Gemfields announced it would suspend mining from Kagem for up to six months amid a poor emerald market outlook for the first half of 2025. The miner also halted operations at its Montepuez Ruby Mining in northern Mozambique last month following an attempted invasion of the site by about 200 people seemingly connected to illegal miners in the area.-FIN24 Ninety One lures Alper Kilic from Standard Chartered to head up alternative credit platformAsset manager Ninety One has appointed Alper Kilic as head of alternative credit.Kilic will be responsible for building on Ninety One's emerging market alternative credit platform, as well as continuing to develop a broader set of investment solutions for clients. He will be based in London, where he will lead a team of more than 40 investment professionals across its private credit and infrastructure investment capabilities."Alper's depth and breadth of experience, as well as his leadership, will be instrumental as we continue to build out our Emerging Market Alternative Credit platform, while delivering long-term value to our clients," Mimi Ferrini, co-chief investment officer of Ninety One, said in a statement."Emerging market private credit and infrastructure strategically invests at the intersection of return and impact, and this is where we as an organisation believe there is a tremendous opportunity."Kilic joined Ninety One after more than a decade-and-a-half at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was most- recently global head of project and export finance (PEF), responsible for one of the firm's key pillars in its global banking business. Under his leadership, Standard Chartered's PEF business (which was recently renamed Infrastructure and Development Finance Group) provided advisory and financing solutions on infrastructure projects as well as offering export credit agency-backed financing across different geographies and industries.Kilic joined Standard Chartered in 2008, where he held several leadership roles, including the regional head of corporate finance for Europe as well as regional head of loan syndications for Africa.He has more than 27 years of industry experience, having first started his career at Citibank in the late 1990s, working in both the Istanbul and London offices specialising in corporate finance and structured trade finance.Kilic holds an MBA from the University of Dallas and a BSc in metallurgical engineering and material science from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey.Ninety One, which has about £127.4 billion (about R3 trillion) in assets under management (AUM), recently announced the first close of its Africa Credit Opportunities Strategy 3 by successfully raising $260 million.The Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF), a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company managed by Ninety One, continues to announce a range of new deals including an investment into solar capacity and a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) facility in Pakistan. In April 2024, the firm also launched the Emerging Market Transition Debt strategy to help encourage investment in emerging markets energy transition initiatives.-FIN24Airlink resumes Nampula flights after fears of aircraft seizure in 'unruly' passenger disputeSouth Africa's largest independent airline, Airlink, has said it will resume flights to Nampula, Mozambique on Thursday after cancelling flights to and from the area earlier in the week. The cancellation of flights and suspension of operations followed the institution of a claim for damages from two Mozambican passengers who had been offloaded from an Airlink flight in Johannesburg on 7 December 2024 due to alleged "unruly and threatening behaviour". "The instituting of the claim was accompanied by a Court application in Mozambique to have Airlink’s aircraft seized in Mozambique pending the outcome of the claim," the airline said in a previous statement. Airlink said that the offloading of passengers and family members had complied with South African civil aviation regulations and the South African Civil Aviation Authority. However, it also said that the Mozambique court had issued an interim order in favour of the applicants to seize three Airlink aircraft on 28 December last year, which would be followed by a hearing in mid-January 2025. Officials had attempted to seize aircraft on the day of the court order, it added. These attempts were unsuccessful.Airlink has since said that it appointed legal counsel in Mozambique to establish rights and stop the execution of the court order. It was forced to cancel flights so that the matter could be handled by the relevant legal and diplomatic authorities, it said.The regional airline believes the seizure of its aircraft would be unlawful for a number of reasons. This includes that the airline was not cited in the court order, Mozambique courts do not have any jurisdiction to seize or arrest foreign registered aircraft as security for civil claims, the order was obtained without giving an opportunity for Airlink to be heard in the courts, and the "dubious and nefarious circumstances in which the claim has been brought and the Court Order granted", among others. In a statement on Wednesday, the airline said that both South African and Mozambican officials had been told that its aircraft would not be seized. However, it said that it will continue to monitor the situation. -FIN24Consumer Commission to probe FlySafair’s overbooking practicesThe National Consumer Commission (NCC) has commenced an investigation into FlySafair for the airline’s apparent “overbooking and/or overselling” practices.In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission said it will assess and review the airline’s compliance with certain provisions of the Consumer Protection Act of 2008.The commission falls under the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.“The NCC has noted concerns in the media, including social media platforms regarding incidents of FlySafair overbooking and/or overselling practices ... On this basis, the NCC has initiated an investigation [into these practices].”The commission confirmed that it has communicated with FlySafair and requested relevant information to “kick-start” the investigation.According to acting commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu, the NCC will prioritise the investigation. He has urged passengers affected to come forward and provide information to assist the investigation.The commission will consider whether FlySafair has complied with specific provisions in the legislation, which pertains to among others the consumer’s rights with respect to delivery of goods or supply of service and false, misleading or deceptive representations.FlySafair has come under fire over the past weekend for overbooking a flight leaving a passenger stranded. He took to social media platform X to voice his dismay, saying: “If you have 200 seats why take payments for 300 passengers?”FlySafair apologised for the incident, however, it explained that overbooking flights is a practice whereby airlines ensure tickets remain affordable.-MONEYWEB

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